Village Finances Teetering After Second Workers' Comp Claim

The mayor of the Village of Prospect, about 100 miles northwest of Albany, says a second major workers’ compensation payout to a volunteer firefighter may bankrupt the village, according to reports in the Utica Observer-Dispatch newspaper.Officials in Prospect, which has a population of 291 and annual property tax revenue of $28,000, say it was recently hit with a second claim for $101,000 after an initial claim cost $445,000, including fees through the Oneida County Self-Insurance policy.“This has buried us,” Mayor Fran Righi told the newspaper. “That puts the nail in ...